Nerd

Chapter 24

~Time Skip~

It's enough. My whole body hurts. He did too much. There is one chance for an escape, I'm gonna try it.

Bravely I walk to Charlie's house. The house looks like a creepy haunted house to me. The worst monsters walk around in there. I knock at the door and Edith opens it. "Oh, hey Jenn," she greets.

"I guess you're here for Charlie," she says and I nod. "Shall I bring you tea?" she asks. "No, thank you, it's not gonna be long," I reply. I hope. Edith smiles and lets me go upstairs.

I might miss her. Edith is the only one who makes me feel okay in this house. She's always nice to me.

I walk into Charlie's room. When he notices me, he smirks. "I have to tell you something," I say. I talk clearly which is not easy. Standing up is even more difficult. I feel like I could fall to the ground and never be able to stand up again.

"Did I give you permission to tell me something?!" Charlie asks. I look at him. Stay strong. "No, but I'm gonna tell you anyway," I say. The words are a lot braver than how I feel right now.

Charlie frowns. "Didn't I tell you I decide everything for you," he says. He did. He made sure I'd never forget it, the bruises on my back still hurt.

I ignore him and start talking again. "I want to break up with you," I say. "You're toxic and I am way better off without you." I sigh in relief. I was so scared to tell him. Now there's no turning back.

Charlie angrily frowns. Oh no, the nerves are coming back again. I should've thought this through more. "You are nothing without me," he states.

"I'd rather be nothing than be with you," I state. He stands up. "You're gonna regret this," he says. "I don't think so," I say and I turn around. I have to get away. Charlie closes the door before I can get through it.

"I'm not gonna let you go 'til you apologize," he says. His voice scares me. "I'm not gonna apologize," I state and with my last power, I push Charlie away from the door. I run through it and go downstairs.

"You can't hide from me," Charlie calls after me.

I run away from the house. The tears are running down my face. I can't go home. My parents will see that something's wrong. I run further. At the end of this street stands Yas's house. She'll let me in.

I knock at the door but no noise is coming from my fists. I'm too weak. I'm too tired. I fall down on my knees in front of the door.

Suddenly, the door opens. "Jenn?!" Yas screams. "What happened?!" she shouts. I don't respond, my breaths are getting heavier and faster. Yas grabs my arm and drags me into the house.

"Please, Jenn, respond," she says. I try to talk but no words come out. I can't breathe any longer. It's too heavy. Yas moves me onto the couch. I try to talk again but I'm out of breath. Slowly everything fades to black.

When I open my eyes again, everything looks white and bright. "Jenn, are you okay?" a voice asks. I try to respond but my throat is too dry. Slowly, I get my vision back. I see three people staring at me.

"Jenn?" Yas asks. I can see her face more clearly. The other two are still vague. One of them starts to talk. "We didn't know what to do, you were having a panic attack. A bad one," he says.

I recognize the voice and I see the faces. Alex and Sam. Finally, I get my words back again. "What happened?" I ask. "You laid in front of my house and when I brought you here you stressed too much and you passed out," Yas explains.

I think about what happened and my eyes get wet again. "What happened?" Alex asks. "It's Charlie," I reply. While the tears are streaming down my face, I tell my friends what happened to me over the last few months.

When I ended my story Yas walks away and Sam holds my hand to support me. "Why didn't you tell us earlier?" he asks. "I thought it was my fault and I didn't want you to get involved in it," I say.

Yas comes back with a big bowl of ice cream. "This helps," she says and she hands out some spoons. I grab one but I don't grab ice cream. "Why don't you eat?" Alex asks with his mound full of ice cream.

"It's not very healthy," I say. "Girl, you have starved yourself. Believe me, you'll feel better when you eat," Yas states. I grab some ice cream and eat it. It is delicious. I missed this.

There we are, eating ice cream, saying nothing. I love it.

When the bowl is empty Yas brings it back to the kitchen. "Jenn," Yas starts when she's back. "You know, you can always come here but my parents are gonna be here in a few minutes so I'm afraid I have to ask you to go," Yas says.

"You can come to my house," Alex suggests when he sees my sad face. I smile. "Are you sure?" I ask. "Yeah, it's fine," he responds and he smiles back.

Yas gives me some of her comfy clothes and I quickly change into them. Then I walk to Alex's house with him.

This is better, right? I'm very proud of Jenn!

Don't think this is the end of the drama! We still have six chapters full of drama.

Thanks for reading!

Love, Anna <3